When flying into New Zealand for the first time, I was in awe of the beauty of this country. It has such a vast and picturesque landscape full of hills, greenery, wildlife, and the ocean right next to Auckland is a nice touch. After settling into our hostel, I and a few others decided to walk around the city of Auckland and from walking around this city, I noticed how clean it was and how new everything looked compared to cities in the United States. Another thing that threw me in a loop when walking around the city was how they drive on the left side of the road and walk on the left side of the road. Many times I had to correct myself when walking on the sidewalk because muscle memory had me walking on the right side. Another difference I see between New Zealand and U.S. Culture is how polite people are here, for example, some buddies and I were trying to find a convenience store to buy some water bottles and a friendly gentleman noticed that we looked lost and asked us if we needed some help. He pointed us in the right direction and off we went. Something that I hope to gain from going on this global experience to New Zealand is to have a better understanding of not only how businesses here differ from the ones back in the U.S, but how to understand different cultures and how they work. I’ve never traveled outside of the U.S before so this was a very daunting experience for me initially, but after being here for a few days, I’ve realized how closed minded I was to other cultures and I now realized how by knowing other cultures, I can apply it in a business setting by being able to relate to others who might not be from the U.S.
